Austin Miles, in his book "Don't Call Me Brother," talks about
homosexuality and child molestations within the christian religion;
to be specific, homosexuality and child molestations by clergy.
Book cover:
XXXXX
X heir names and stories are all too familiar: Jim Jones, Jim
X and Tammy Bakker, Richard Dortch, John Wesley Fletcher, Pat
X Robertson, Jimmy Swaggart, Oral Roberts -- the movers and
shakers of high-tech televangelism. But what about the name-
less people whos lives they affected -- the victims who believed
them? _Don't_Call_Me_Brother_ is the true story of one such family
destroyed by "born-again" christanity. It is also a powerfull
testimony about those people who claim to be the representitives
of god, as seen through the eyes of a man who was one of them.
A successfull circus ringmaster, Austin Miles was persuaded to leave
the "sinful" world of show business for a better life in evangelism.
He was recruited into the Assemblies of god movement and ordaned a
minister. He was Jim Bakker's first "celebrity guest" on the PTL show,
and in the ten years that followed, Miles saw the entire PTL story
unfold. He saw how profit-making religious trends were organized and
implemented; how carefully planned "financial crises" brough in
millions of dollars; how spiritual leaders used their power to intimidate
and blackmail. And he was a witness to the events surroudning one of
the most notorious sex scandals of the decade. When Miles finally
broke free of the Assemblies of god, he had lost his wife, his
daughter, his life savings, and his health.
- - - -
Page 148:
I became increasingly aware of the astonishing prevalence
of homosexuality among Assemblies of god ministers. "Why couldn't the
people see this?" I wondered. I had resisted seeing it myself, even
though my early experiences as victim [of clergy sexual abuse-FLR]
ought to have sensitized me. But the faithfull accepted effeminate
characteristics in ministers as examples of the gentelness and
tenderness of christ.
In one large church, the pastor was standing next to the handsome young
song leader, near where I was sitting on the platform. During an
exuberant congregational song, the pastor glanced over at the young
man, winked his eye, smacked his lips, and said, "Oh, you're so
gorgeous I could just eat you up!"
During a regional ministers convention, within earshot of me, a pastor
sidled up to a boy who belonged to the Royal Rangers, an Assemblies
youth organization. He said to the boy, "My wife will be gone for the
next four days. Why don't you come and sleep with me?"
At a district meeting of ministers in New York, one respected pastor
tweaked the cheek of another Assemblies pastor. The first pastor came
back a few moments later and playfully twitched the second pastors ear
with his fingers. The second pastor walked over to me shaking his
head. Smacking his lips, he said, "That makes me so _mad_ when he
twitches my ear like that."
I began to take special note of this sort of behavior in my ministers
as I went from church to church all over the United States and Canada.
I recorded my impressions in my journal. Reviewing my journal, the
proportion I have reason to suspect were homosexually inclined -- from
whom there had come some sort of clear demonstration of lascivious
attention to another male in my presence -- is a staggering eight out
of ten. Eighty percent! And the great majority of them had what
appeared to be good marriages.
The prevalence of Assemblies of god ministers committing -- and getting
away with -- child mollestation is a horror of the first magnitude.
Reverand E. R. Schultz, District Secretary of the Florida District of
the Assemblies, told me of a seventy-five-year-old pastor in his
district who had recently been caught molesting a twelve-year-old
girl. He had told the girl that it was time for her to learn about sex,
that young boys would teach her wrong, so he would teach her about it
properly.
"What did you do with him?" I asked.
"Transfered him out of the district," Schultz replied. Later, I learned
that the offending pastor had been transfered to Florida from yet another
district, where he had been involved in a similar incident. And Eugene
Profeta was kicked out altogether for tipping his hairdresser twenty
dollars!
Incidents of Assemblies ministers found patronizing prostituts were on
the rise. But that kind of sorid behavior tended to remain hidden,
unless rivalries among preachers provided someone an incentive to
expose the offending minister.
Even though I had become aware of the sexual perversion rampant among
the ministers, I was so wrapped up in the church that I rationalized
it all away. Perhaps god let me see all this to impress upon me that he
needed true ministers through whom he could work miracles and bring
about a revival. And did not satan come as a wolf in sheeps clothing,
or disguised as an angel of light? Looking back, I can see I clearly
had lost perspective. Before I was "Saved," I would _never_ have even
_considered_ associating with such people!

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